The Journal of Health Professions Education and Innovation is an international peer-reviewed open-access journal with distribution to readers worldwide. The journal aspires to be a leading international journal in the field of health professions education by publishing high-quality papers about priority issues worldwide. The published material will be of interest to learners, teachers, researchers, administrators, and leaders of health professions education. The journal aims to advance medical education scholarship and, consequently, the quality of healthcare. The journal welcomes articles on all areas of health professions education.
Types of papers:
Research article: This should be about original research. The abstract should be structured (subheadings: background, methods, results, and conclusion) and of no more than 300 words. The article length should be less than 4,000 words, but longer articles are welcome if the context requires more text (e.g., qualitative studies). The paper format should follow IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) structure.
Review article: This includes narrative, critical, and systematic reviews that advance knowledge on important topics. The abstract should be structured under proper subheadings and of no more than 300 words. The article length should be no more than 5,000 words. The paper format should follow a logical structure with appropriate subheadings.
Letter to the editor: This should be related to one of the published articles and include critical comments, additional insights, and different perspectives. Letter to the editor has less than 500 words, a maximum of 6 references, and no abstract, tables, or figures.
Learners/educators voice: This special section includes brief contributions from general learners and educators about medical education and research innovations. It is typically less than 500 words with a maximum of 5 references and no abstract, tables, or figures.
Commentary: This includes important authors’ contributions that don’t fit into one of the above sections, such as a description of personal or institutional medical education experience, reviewing influential books or articles on health professions education, and perspectives on any hot topics in the health professions education field. Commentary should have a maximum length of 1500 words, an optional unstructured abstract of no more than 150 words, a maximum of two tables/figures, and no more than 15 references.
Intellectual Sparks: This section exclusively showcases peer-reviewed short reports of genuine ideas, each under 700 words, offering innovative solutions to contemporary challenges in medical education. Authors outline the problem, detail their inventive methodologies, and highlight the impact of their innovations, providing key findings, lessons learned, and broader implications for medical education. Dive into the future of medical pedagogy with innovative and novel ideas where transformative ideas take centre stage. No tables, no or at most two references to be included.
Manuscript preparation
Authors should prepare their manuscript in accordance with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org).
Manuscripts must be written in academic English (US or UK) in Word, containing the following parts:
Title page:
o Title (concise and informative)
o Brief title (max 40 characters)
o Authors’ information:
- Name
- Affiliation, i.e., department, faculty, institution, city, governorate/state, country - E-mail address
o Corresponding author’s information: name, affiliation, E-mail, telephone
o Manuscript data:
- Article type:
- Number of words in main manuscript (title page, abstract, declarations, references, and tables):
- Number of words in the abstract:
- Number of references:
- Number of Tables:
- Number of Figures:
- Number of supplementary materials:
Abstract (start on a new page):
o Required for research and review articles, and optional for commentary.
o Max of 300 words
o For research article, use background, methods, results, and conclusion subheadings. For review articles, use appropriate subheadings. For commentary, unstructured abstract.
Keywords:
o Provide 4 – 6 keywords (separated by semicolon) that can be used for indexing purposes
Statements and declarations (start on a new page): These statements and declarations will be published in the manuscript.
o Ethics approval and consent: Manuscripts describing studies involving human subjects or data should report the name of the ethics committee that approved the study (and the approval number if applicable) and consent obtained from participants (or if the requirement for consent was waived). If the manuscript doesn’t report on human or animal studies, please write “Not applicable” in this section.
o Availability of data and material: This statement should describe how data (minimal dataset) supporting manuscript results can be obtained. This may include providing dataset as a supplementary file, a hyperlink to publicly available dataset, or the name of person/institution to be contacted to obtain such data with description of any relevant access criteria. If the manuscript doesn’t contain any dataset, please state “not applicable”. Examples of such statement include:
- Data supporting the current study are provided as a supplementary file.
- Data supporting the current study are available through the following link: …
- Data supporting the current study are available from the corresponding author upon a reasonable request.
- Data supporting the current study are available from [third party name], but access to the data is restricted because ……
o Conflict of interests: Each author (use the initials) must declare all possible financial and non-financial conflict of interests. If the authors have no conflict of interests, please state “The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests”.
o Funding: Authors (use the initials) must declare all sources of funding for the study and the role of the funding body in the study design, conduction, data analysis and interpretation, and publication. Examples include: - No funding
- The study was funded by…., and the funder had no role in the study design, conduction, data analysis and interpretation.
o Authors contributions: Please, specify the contribution of each author (using the initials) to the manuscript, such as study conception and design, specific methods, data collection, data analysis and interpretation, manuscript writing, and manuscript revision. The authors must state that they read and approved the final manuscript. The following is an example:
“ AS & JB conceived and designed the study. MM, KS & YR contributed to data collection. AS & YR analyzed the data. All authors contributed to data interpretation. MM wrote the first draft of manuscript. All authors contributed to revisions of manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
o Acknowledgment: Please, use this section to acknowledge individuals who contributed to the study or manuscript but do not fulfill authorship criteria. If you do not have anyone to acknowledge, please state “Not applicable”.
Main text:
o Manuscript must be submitted as a Word file.
o Use A4 paper size, portrait orientation, normal (1 inch) for all margins, Times New Roman or Arial font, font size 12, double space, and left alignment.
o Use the tab stops for indents (not the space bar).
o Number all pages (starting from the title page) using Arab numerals at the middle bottom page.
o Research articles must follow the IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) format.
- Introduction should provide the readers with scientific background, the rationale for conducting the study, and the specific research questions/hypothesis.
- Methods must be clear and detailed, including study design and setting, participants/material selection/characteristics, approval from research ethics committee and informed consent from participants, explanation of variables and outcomes, description of all procedures and interventions, and data analysis plan.
- Results should include findings of the study in a well-organized format. Use tables and figures as appropriate to present study findings. Avoid repeating all the data in the tables or figures in the text; emphasize or summarize only the most important findings. - Discussion should summarize, interpret, and explain the study findings, considering study objectives, limitations, generalizability, results from similar studies, relevant evidence, and practical/clinical and research implications. A conclusion should be provided as a separate paragraph at the end of the discussion to clearly highlight the most important study findings and implications.
o Reviews and commentary should be structured under appropriate subheadings.
o Please, use no more than three levels of headings/subheadings.
Each abbreviation must be defined in the text at first mention and used consistentlythereafter.
References:
o Authors should use the Vancouver reference style.
o In-text citations: References must be cited in the text, tables, and legends consecutivelyusing Arabic numbers in square parentheses. Examples: - “Medical education includes many aspects [1].”
- “This could have great impact on the learning environment [3-6, 15]
o Reference list: This should include resources that are cited in the text and that were published or accepted for publication. References in the list should be numbered consecutively.
- Journal article: last names and initials of all authors (unless more than 6 when only the first 3 are provided followed by et al). The title of the paper. Journal title abbreviated
according to Index Medicus. Year of publication; Volume no: first and last page numbers. DOI.
- Book: Authors’ names. Book title. Edition no. Place of publication: Publisher; year. Page range. Harden R, Lilley P. The eight roles of the medical teacher. 1st ed. Edinburgh: Elsevier; 2018. p. 69-75.
- Book chapter: Authors’ names. Chapter title. Editors’ names. Edition no. Place of publication: Publisher; year. Page range.
Pondicherry: John Wiley & Sons; 2022. p. 101-11.
- Online resource:
A guide for educators. UNICEF. 2022. http://www.unicef.org/reports/gender- responsive-digital-pedagogies. Accessed 12 May 2023.
o Authors are encouraged to use reference managers (e.g., Endnote, Mendeley, Zotero).
o Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references.
Tables:
o Tables should be provided (each on a new page) in editable format after the references within the same manuscript Word file. However, tables that are difficult to include in the same manuscript file (e.g., too large tables, different orientation) can be provided as a separate Word file.
o Tables must be numbered using Arabic numerals and cited in the text in consecutive numerical order.
o Each table must have a title describing the contents of the table.
o Tables footnotes are indicated by superscript lower-case letters and provided beneath the table body. Any abbreviations used in the table must be expanded in the table footnote.
o Indicate any previously published data by providing the reference.
Figure captions/legends:
o Figure captions and footnotes should be provided (on a new page) at the end of the main text (after Tables) under section “Figure captions”. Do not provide captions in the figure file.
o Please, provide a concise caption for each figure describing what the figure shows.
o Figure caption should begin with “Fig.” followed by its number in bold type. e.g., “Fig.1”
o Footnote to figure should be provided in this section after the figure caption.
Illustration (Figures, artworks):
o Each figure should be submitted separately in TIFF, JPEG, or PNG format with a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale, and 300 dpi for color (at the correct size). However, illustrations made by PowerPoint can be directly submitted in PPT form.
o Explain all elements in the figures as appropriate, such as axis, boxes, circles, and lines. Explanations that would appear as footnote beneath the figure in the published version should be provided with the figure captions (in the main text) and not in the figure file.
o Name each submitted figure files with “Fig” and the figure number. E.g., Fig 1
o Figures must be numbered using Arabic numerals and cited in the text in consecutive numerical order.
o Indicate any previously published figures by providing the reference (in the Figure captions section). Make sure that you obtain permission from the copyright owner to use any previously published material.
Manuscript structure summary
- Title page - Abstract - Keywords
- Statements and declarations
- Main text (IMRaD structure for research article) - References
- Tables
- Figure captions
Supplementary Material:
The journal accepts supplementary material (e.g., study dataset, tables, figures), which will be published online with the article.
Submission & peer-review process:
Manuscripts can be submitted through the journal electronic submission system at ……
Authors are required to complete the submission data and upload manuscript files prepared according to journal guidelines.
During the submission process, authors will be asked to provide a cover letter and suggested reviewers.
The cover letter should state the following: (a) importance of the study; (b) ethical requirements (c) funding; (d) conflict of interests; and (e) declaring that the submitted work is original, has not been published in any form, and is not simultaneously submitted to other journals.
Authors should provide the names, affiliations, and institutional email addresses for 5 reviewers, preferably from different institutions and different countries.
Submitted manuscripts will undergo initial technical and plagiarism check, and manuscripts that do not follow journal guidelines will be returned to authors.
Manuscripts that pass the initial technical check will be assigned to an editor, who can directly reject submissions with low scientific quality (usually within 3-5 days). Only submissions with satisfactory scientific quality will be sent to reviewers.
The journal implements a rigorous, single-blind, independent peer review. Each manuscript is reviewed by a minimum of two expert reviewers. We provide 5 days for the reviewer to accept the invitation and 14 days to complete the review.
Based on reviewers’ reports, the assigned editor will then recommend to the editor-in-chief to accept, reject, or ask for revision of the manuscript. The editor-in-chief makes the final decision that is communicated to the authors.
We strive to provide rapid but rigorous peer review and decision process. Authors of manuscripts that undergo peer review are expected to receive first decision within 4-6 weeks of submission.
Ethics & Permissions:
The journal is committed to maintaining the integrity of scientific research and will follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines (https://publicationethics.org) in dealing with potential research misconduct.
Authors must refrain from any forms of research misconduct, which refers to serious deviation from ethical and scientific standards in proposing, conducting, reviewing, or reporting research, such as fabrication (making up data), falsification (manipulating research process or results/data), plagiarism (stealing others' ideas or words), and deliberate misinterpretation of research results. The journal uses plagiarism screening software.
the submitted work must be original and has not been published in any other form or language. If the current work is a continuation or expansion of a previous study, authors must be transparent and provide plausible explanations.
The submitted manuscript must not be simultaneously under consideration by another journal.
If you include any already published material (e.g., figures, illustrations, surveys), make sure that you obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Authors of submitted work must satisfy the authorship criteria described by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org):
o Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
o Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
o Final approval of the version to be published; AND
o Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
During submission, please make sure that the details and orders of authors are correct. Adding or deleting authors during the revision process is generally not allowed unless strong justifications are provided. The journal does not permit any changes to authorship after acceptance of manuscript.
The journal has the right to ask the authors for relevant details and documents in order to verify the integrity of the study, such as unidentified raw data, records, ethical approval, and consent form. Confidential, proprietary, and other sensitive information are excluded.
Standards of reporting
The Journal of Health Professions Education and Innovation upholds complete and transparent reporting of research. When preparing the manuscript, authors are highly recommended to adhere to standard reporting guidelines, such as those hosted by the EQUATOR NETWORK (http://www.equator-network.org)
Copyright
Authors retain the copyright of their articles.
Authors grant the Journal of Health Professions Education and Innovation a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.
The Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) formalizes the terms and conditions of publishing articles in this journal. This license allows readers to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to alter, transform, or build upon the material, including for commercial use, providing the original source is credited.
If the authors are not allowed to retain the copyright to their own article (e.g., US government employee), authors should contact the journal editorial office to agree on another copyright type.
After acceptance
Once the article is accepted, authors will be asked to read, sign, and return the Disclosure and License Form.
Accepted manuscript will be edited according to journal style, and the article proof will be sent to authors for approval.
Articles will be assigned a DOI and made freely available online (Ahead of print), usually within 1-2 weeks after acceptance, pending inclusion in the next issue.
Publication fees
All accepted articles to Journal of Health Professions Education and Innovation will be published online open-access to be freely available for readers without any subscription charges or registration barriers. However, open-access publishing is not without costs. Therefore, authors of accepted articles are required to pay article-processing charges (APC). Journal of Health Professions Education and Innovation offers APC discounts and waivers for young researchers who can’t afford publication charges. Requests for APC discounts and waivers must be made during the submission process; requests made during the peer review or after acceptance will not be considered. APC waivers and discounts will be granted on a case- by-case basis.
Important note: The journal offers a temporary waiver of APC for all submitted articles till December 31, 2024. Authors submitting their articles before this date will publish their articles (once accepted) open access without paying any publication charges.
Contact the journal
Any inquiries about submission issues, peer review process, status of manuscript, manuscript production, post-publication corrections, or other issues should be directed to the journal editorial team at j.hpe.innov@gmail.com